The fromsoftware games have always had a very distinctive visual pattern, to the extent that it is usually easy to predict when the distinctive “Software” logo is about to appear after a sudden fading to black, even in a declared game trailer in a game of Soft game. This is thanks to many talented artists in the studio, and during my time in their office, she got a chance to sit with one of them, her concept and environment artist Saori Mizuno, to talk about her inspiration, the artistic trend she gave to Elden Ring Nightreign, and how she disagreed about her work in previous FROMSoft games.
IGN: In general, what was different from working on Nightreign for the basic game Eden Ring, or anything you have previously worked with with from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from Froms,, do not have different from working on the game Elden Ring?
Sairi Mizuno – Artist Concept on Elden Ring: NightFreag: In general, for Nightreign, we will receive a design request, and then if I am responsible for this particular concept, I will repeat in that image that I had, this interpretation of the design, and then, I will match and cooperate with other designers and produce the final design in the end. I think one of the aspects that have changed a lot in the Nightreign design process is that we have a lot of back and forth, a lot of brainstorming personally, and they actually talk about these designs instead of just getting text notes.
Announcer:
Can you talk a little bit about Nightreign’s preparation and how do you get close to making it feel distinguished by Elden Ring, although it is a big show that uses many of the same assets?
We did not want to make her feel very different from Elden, as she was using this as a base for design and preparation. But one of the specific trends that we did early is to create something that feels first and seems familiar and gradually turns uncommon into the unknown. This was a nice type of policy or trend that we had to approach with the design.
Elden Ring had this kind of very great feeling of many environments, but we wanted Nightreign to feel at a beautiful glance, but if you look a little deeper, there is something evil and there is something darker there. Ring Elden, perhaps there is a lot of bright colors in the scene, in the sky box and the like, but we also wanted the player to feel a feeling of darkness there too. This was another aspect of the design that is slightly different from Elden episode.
It was one of the sites that truly adhered to me as a round table, a familiar location in the elden, and has an interesting development in Nightreign. Can you talk a little about what happened in the new design to hold a round table and what are some inspiration behind some of these changes?
With the new game of Nightreign, we wanted the round table this time in particular to feel like you’ve somewhere you can relax and take your time and a kind of comfort after that intense cycle for three days/night. So we wanted to feel, from the design perspective, more comfortable and more welcome, more at home. One of the inspiration was the Fire Link Mausoleum from Dark Souls 1, where you feel more than embracing the atmosphere. You feel that you will return home after these difficulties, after a harsh battle, and the most important safety of anything else.
So from the design perspective, we used techniques such as gentle lighting, feeling the surrounding areas as well as the round table. Also, while much of the place is in ruin, we did not want to feel the destruction and the complete explosion. We wanted to feel that it was a safe place to return home and that the player could relax and take their time there.
The other motivation for the round table design in Nightreign was this feeling early in the morning, so a type of dawn, the dawn, the player set out on a new adventure. So this entered into some lighting options and architecture that changed in Nightreign, and we wanted the player to be aware of that. We wanted to realize this when going out on this new adventure.
So when the player gets the third day, he is transferred to this new site, which is different from anyone else in the Elden episode. One of the mostly white, mixed with a very colored sky box is full of orange, blue and purple of everything mixed together. What is the story behind this environment and what was some inspiration that entered this work? If you need visual representation, I have this.
So one of the first requests that we received from the director regarding this environment is that you should feel a feeling in the end and we must get this feeling of accumulation before the storm. And that we must also feel that the impression I got from the box of the sky is that the sky is falling, because this catastrophe approaches its end. Therefore, he is the president at the end of the third day, so we wanted the player to feel this distress in his chest as if they were preparing to start something greater than themselves and we hope this crowned and comes in the design.
In addition, looking again to the colors and the formation of the sky, we wanted to feel that something is about to be born from that chaos, from this chaotic scene. Once again, the president is crowned at the end of this conflict on the third day. We wanted the player to feel the use of color and the use of these design elements. And some of the inspiration that we took from that was a realistic cosmic events. So, we cannot fully understand, which is very far and studded with the perception of the ordinary person and we wanted to feel the abstraction completely and with the estate even within the world of Nightreign.
Just speak personally, what is the thing you are proud of yourself in Nightreign?
Personally, one of my favorite fields is actually the region that we have just talked about, the environment it enters before confronting this president at the end of the third day. One of the keywords we found while exploring the design of this environment was the concept of leather disposal. Thus this was something that really resonated with me and commented with me. The idea of embodying the surrounding environment and building to something that was once lived, has now been at risk or the passage of these ages and overcoming this entire process. And we wanted the players to feel this feeling of age, this old imagination feels from this specific piece.
One of the things that surprised us about Nightreign was the environmental diversity, although it was a kind of smaller and heavy world. Was it difficult to achieve this type of diversity in such a small, confined space?
In general with this type of emerging map change and this type of terrain effects and events, we wanted to feel like something new and immediately exciting, just at a glance. So the player will know that there is an effective change on the map and the scene and they will have an immediate idea of what they have to do to progress. So, for example, the volcano, the hole that appears, will need to be excited in a deeper way. Or to change the terrain of the ice field, you will need a type of climb up to the highest, this type of object. We wanted this to be effective immediately and to change the way the players approach the map only by changing this sense of space.
Then personally as a designer, some of your favorite artists, whether classic or contemporary, and is there anyone you can refer to that they are particularly influential on your work?
One of my favorite traditional artists, or classic artists is Zdzisław Beksiński. I took a lot of inspiration from his various expressions when designing my work. Also with the concept of Nightreign and the night lords fought after these repeated plays, I felt this is rooted in the game design. So I wanted this feeling to come in the designs that I created as well. One of the meaning I got from that was from watching the enthusiastic movie away from Hayo Miazaki. This feeling of inability to return home is unable to escape from a dream. This kind of feeling that I wanted a kind of harness while designing these worlds and tried to reach this to the player while playing during the game.
Even when designing lumveld, that primary map, that primary environment on the first day, I wanted to feel beautiful. As of an external glance, it looks beautiful and attractive, but you feel quickly that something is not true. So I think this is part of the inspiration we have definitely reached in the design of Nightreign.
So, switch to video games quickly, can you just talk about what some of your favorite video games have also inspired your work?
I enjoy Diablo II and other multi -game games. I enjoy survival games in the open world where you should start from scratch, build your home and things like this world. I like a variety of Indian islands and I also have a fondness in the legend of Zelda since childhood, games like Mahara’s Mask, which is really really enjoyable to play, but they have this … again, this feeling of repeated play and this type of darkness for them as well. I think this is stuck with me since childhood. So yes.
Then a last question. Many designers and artists love to make their personal fingerprints on a game. Are there any secrets or eggs that have been able to infiltrate yourself into the game? Or is there anything that you hope will see the players and enjoy it while playing?
Yes. I do not think that you call this kind of signature as an artist, but one of the important things that I was interested in during the design of Nightreign was this kind of comprehensive topic at night and how we go to express this. We clearly have tried many different things and methods and Lumelfld is in the end a place to return to him as a player. So we thought about one of the ways that we can express that these changes throughout the structure for three days and what the players can notice as their journey is progressing. What makes them come back and what makes them interested.
So we talk a little more about this night topic, we had to explore what it means tonight for us as designers, like the concept of the foundation. Of course, the night brings some negative connotations, such as darkness, fear and unknown, things like this. So we initially wanted when the player jumps to this world to feel that this type of negative emotion is completely transmitted directly and has anxiety and a feeling of fear of the unknown.
So we have transferred this straight with things like the imposed time limit and the rating circle of transgression, things like this. But we found that night, we did not want to be completely negative. Once again, as soon as the players get used to that tournament and attack what they see, we wanted to be more than that. We wanted the players to start almost in the yearning during the night and look forward to this aggressive darkness and may feel comfortable with it, from getting used to this rhythm and these aspects. So, with the game and the player somewhat used to these things, this is definitely aspect of the design that we wanted to integrate and be part of the player’s experience.